So tonight is my first raid ever as a Shaman. I have a general idea of what a Shaman does on raids such as keep the party your assigned to healed and help keep the tanks and other raid members buffed up to the hilt but are there any tips, tricks or advice anyone can give me?
Make a /rt macro that targets the last person to send you a tell, allowing you to quickly buff them when they ask. Your role in raids involves Malo/Slowing targets when asked, keeping players (mainly physical attackers) buffed, and spot healing whoever needs it. It's a chill class for raiding, but if you find yourself annoyed when you "have" to buff people, shaman probably isn't the class for you
Honestly not to worried about the tells for buffs. I would rather be actively doing something anyway most of the time.
For classic, learning to ignore buff requests are just as important as fulfilling them. There is no reason to waste mana giving that ranger or bard or pally the dex or agi buff they are asking for, it won't help them in any measurable way! Other than that, just debuff and heal as needed, and rebuff tanks after they die.
Put someone in autofollow and afk for some Taco Bell. When you get back toss a single buff to the last person that asked for it. Then alt tab out to figure out what you wanna spend your DKP on.
Yes please do learn how stats do help. Dex helps ranger archery and bard fizzle. Agi helps paladin (and sk, war) AC. Agility is the hardest stat for a tank to raise with gear so that buff is always welcome and stacks with preferred enchanter haste (adds agility too). As a paladin, my Str is easily capped by gear, and Dex only helps with melee skill ups. So HP, Sta (more HP), and Agi please.
lower levels de-buffing the name and trash is most important. Then get alchemy done and make some plat!
Debuffs on mobs! Malo + slow on anything that is going to live longer than 30 seconds or so. Some bosses may take several attempts to slow. Especially Innoruuk/Cazic are night and day when they are slowed vs. when they are not. Be aware of the aggro your slow resists may build early in the fight so you don't die, but keep slowing until it sticks. There are a handful of mobs it will basically never stick on, like High Priest and Coercer in plane of hate. Also keep an eye on the time remaining on slow so you can start refreshing before it actually fades.
